This morning I bit the bullet and signed up for the Green Park Royal Berkshire 10k on Sunday 21st May. This falls between Reading Half Marathon and starting proper training for the marathon. I also have a whole load of Race for Life 5k and 10k events in my diary, as my marathon entry gets me free access to these for the year! My next plan is to look at routes for longer runs around home, as my longest training run is meant to be 20-22 miles! This afternoon, despite feeling tired and totally lacking in motivation, I dragged myself out for a run down the local byways. I made the mistake of not wearing my "safety glasses", and ended up with a midge committing suicide in my left eye - won't be leaving them at home again, then! The shoes performed nicely in "proper" mud, and my socks were still dry (except for sweat!) when I got home, even though I stomped in several puddles on the way. A refreshing 5k, although I'm now feeling in a "PJs and dressing gown" mood... Please do sponsor me if you can - even just £1 - it's a long way to my target! Thank you. https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/Marathon-for-Archie
Distance: 3.13 miles Time: 32:17 Average pace: 10:19 Fastest mile: 9:41 Type of run: Trail Cardio fitness score: 40
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I'm a runner. On a low budget. With an unhealthy worry about slipping (don't ask about the ice and my coccyx, it's not a pretty story). So for winter parkruns and trail running, I decided to invest in some trail shoes (having slipped my way around my first parkrun in 39 minutes!). I had had my eye on the More Mile Cheviot trail shoes for quite a while, actually, but since I never ran off-road I couldn't see a valid reason to actually take the plunge. In fact I think I'd been procrastinating for so long that originally I'd been looking at the Cheviot 2! I settled on these shoes for 3 main reasons 1. Price - £30 + P&P from amazon.co.uk 2. Customer reviews (see above link) 3. I have other More Mile running gear that I am very happy with They arrived quickly and I tried them on. I am a size 7 with wide feet, so I'd gone up half a size. I'll admit that they are on the snug side, but not uncomfortably tight. Their first outing was on tarmac, as it was icy down my local muddy paths and I wasn't going to risk it. They were actually surprisingly not too bad to run in on tarmac considering the almost football-blade type tread on them and I had a good (and fast!) run. My next run was a 5.6 miler, again mostly on tarmac but this time I managed a mile across some fields that are being built on near home. I must say they performed excellently - having run across the same fields a few weeks previously and needing to walk around the muddy bits, I ran the whole way across without ever feeling like I was on mud at all. The downside was that by the end of this run, they had rubbed my little toe on my right foot (I said they were snug), so I used my regular running shoes on my next run. Their next outing was 3 days later at my local Parkrun. This was around trail paths with muddy areas and grassy bits on the sides where I overtook people. I managed a SB 5k (29:09) with no rubbing or discomfort at all. So...marks out of 10... Fit: 8 (I have wide feet, but I'm sure they'll stretch with more use) Grip: 10 (not even a hint of slipping!) Comfort: 9 Value: 10 Would I recommend these: Definitely! I managed to sleep until 6.47am this morning, an improvement on 5-something yesterday (my alarm goes off at 6am in the week).
Practically a lie-in. Up at 7 to walk the doggo and to my dismay it was frosty/icy again. Luckily, a quick trek down the byway showed it wasn't frozen solid like it has been for the past couple of weeks. Coffee. Bran flakes. Then I was off. Loathe to cough up £5.50 for parking, I parked just out of town and ran/walked the three quarters of a mile to Sweatshop, and arrived feeling spritely. Memo to self: leave 10 minutes later next week to avoid hanging around. Having done a pacy Parkrun yesterday, I had already decided to keep a sensible pace and once we (finally) set off, I found myself running with someone whose name I still don't know! He and I stayed together pretty much the whole way, and I managed to run up the "big hill" on the route that I walked 2 weeks ago. "Zombies, Run!" kept me going when the going got tough; 2 degrees and raining isn't the nicest weather when you're sweating under your clothes and getting wet from the outside. Still, I made it and in a not-too-shabby time. My hamstrings are sore, but otherwise I'm feeling pretty good, sitting eating a bacon and cheese butty and glugging a coffee! https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/Marathon-for-Archie Distance: 7.92 miles Time: 1:24:24 Average pace: 10:38 Fastest mile: 10:23 Type of run: Long Cardio fitness score: 40 This morning I took part in my second ever parkrun. My first was 2 weeks ago in mild ice then last week it was totally freezing and there was no way I was going to slip again and murder my poor coccyx as I did a few weeks ago. So today was a balmy (!!!) 6 degrees above freezing, the mildest morning for weeks. I set out without a particular plan aside from doing the run - I have an 8 mile training run for Reading Half Marathon tomorrow, so I didn't want to do anything too ambitious. Without meaning to, I managed to run the best 5k time I've managed in many, many months. So hopefully this won't have killed me for tomorrow - I did push myself and it was hard going, but a few weeks ago 11:30 miles were hard going!
Yesterday I entered myself for the Race for Life Marathon on 8th October. I may actually be insane. That said, as my fitness improves, so does my overall sense of wellbeing. I've set up a JustGiving page to fundraise for Meningitis Now, a charity close to my heart. https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/Marathon-for-Archie Distance: 5k Time: 29:09 Average pace: 9:26 Fastest mile: 8:56 Type of run: Threshold Cardio fitness score: 40 I was lucky enough to get a new FitBit (Charge HR 2) for Christmas, which has led to a bit of an obsession (hopefully healthy) with...well, my health!
I'm currently in training for Reading Half Marathon (thought I'd scuppered that plan when I slipped on ice on 30th December and landed on my coccyx - one of the most painful experiences of my life!). When I started running again in mid-December I wondered whether I'd ever manage a pace above what felt like crawling, but amazingly (!!!) with training (in my case 3-4 runs per week) and time (i.e. more than one week!), my pace is improving nicely. I can now run several miles at 10:33 and 2-3 miles at under 10:00 per mile. Due to the ice, I haven't run this weekend (I now have serious paranoia about slipping), but it looks to be thawing over the next few days so I'll be back at it. 8 weeks now until the half marathon and I can actually see myself doing it in a respectable time. I've only ever run that far once (alone) and completed the distance in 2hr 23 mins. I'll be aiming to beat that! My FitBit allows me to track all of this and also my cardio fitness (now standing at 39, which is bordering on "excellent" for a woman of my age) and my resting heart rate, which is 60-62 bpm. I've lost half a stone, all but given up alcohol, upped my fruit and veg intake and I'm feeling good! And now, to bed...more soon! |
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May 2018
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